The Holy Trinity can be as confusing as we want to make it. God did a really good job in making our connecting with Him, in and through His Holy threesome, a relationship changing event. As we find in the first chapter of John, the Word was with God from the beginning and He sent Him to us in human form in order to communicate with us, His children, in a more direct way. As Jesus was crucified, He became the Christ and returned to His Father. And then with the Holy Spirit, God made His communication with His children perfect.
In John 14:15-31 we hear Jesus say, “If you love me you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you…Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
Life in the natural world can be so confusing. There are so many rules to follow that come to us from all sorts of directions. Our government, our schools, our jobs, our clubs, our games, they are all telling us how to behave and what to do.
Then there are all of the subtle rules that come from our social and cultural influences. These are even tougher to keep straight. When we apply a sense of fairness and truth to all of the rules that come down on us we are sometimes disappointed in what we see and hear and feel.
We sometimes feel that we are without an advocate. It’s us against everybody else. We look for a friend, a supporter, a coach or mentor. The self-help books are out there waiting on us to pick them up. But wait a minute! Jesus is telling us in John’s gospel that He will give us the Holy Spirit as an Advocate and Comforter. He is telling us that He and God are going to move in with us if we love Him and keep His word.
Take it from someone who had God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit move in on him. In the middle of what appeared to be life-threatening chaos, my Christian community began praying for me to be comforted by God’s Spirit.
I had been praying to God for a full recognition of Him in my life. I was very intentional about inviting Him into my traumatic situation. My seeking Him in combination with the prayer support of God’s faithful people in my Christian community took me on a journey that I will never forget. I have faith in God’s promise that it will never end.
Jesus has told us to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. He has also told us to love our neighbor as ourselves. He explained that all things hang on these two commandments (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” He didn’t say that, “You must keep my commandments to love me.”
There are no rules in God’s Kingdom. Entrance is secured for those who love him. For we have an Advocate and Comforter with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Robert Halsey Pine was born at Newark, Ohio in 1943. He is a graduate of Northeastern University and completed the program of Theological Education by Extention: Education for Ministry, School of Theology, the University of the South.